he National Museum of Art\, Osaka presents a special exhibit
ion entitled What We See\, which will focus primarily on works that make us
e of the moving image.

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In face of ongoing and unparalleled technolo
gical revolution that has occurred over the last century\, the advent of gl
obalization\, and daily life in contemporary society\, which is continually
inundated with a huge quantity of information\, we are exposed to a bewild
ering amount of change on a daily basis. In the course of ordinary life\, t
he things that are presented as a "reality" sometimes seem to be occurring
in a dream\, making it seem as if we are experiencing a complete fabricatio
n. At the same time\, the realities that are presented as fiction are imbue
d with a greater intensity\, and function no differently from reality\, giv
ing us the sense that the line between artifice and actuality is growing in
creasingly vague.

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In the field of art\, the concept of reality was
nearly always linked to Realism. And by the time photography emerged\, unli
ke painting\, it was thought to have the ability to capture a genuine state
of reality. It has since become clear\, however\, that photography does no
t always embody this function and that the reality it does embody is not ne
cessarily factual. With the rise of the moving image\, and the subsequent u
se of computer graphics and digital technology\, scenes that do not actuall
y exist came to be presented with a heightened sense of reality. For exampl
e\, a film with the characteristics of a documentary that has been edited a
nd molded according to a certain perspective produces a fiction that is det
ached from reality.

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Today\, there are many video works that reflect
the state of contemporary society in which the distinction between fact an
d fiction has been lost. In these works\, which blend fact and fiction\, th
e artists are asking us to consider the current whereabouts of truth. Does
truth exist in something that was created as a fiction? Is reality truth? W
hen reality becomes a fiction\, does truth begin to fluctuate? Or on the ot
her hand\, when fiction is formulated as reality\, does it lead to the emer
gence of truth?

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This exhibition will present a collection of video
works by ten artists from around the world including two from Japan: Hiraki
Sawa and Shino Yanai. In contemporary society\, with its flood of informat
ion and images\, we must search for the whereabouts of the essential truth
contained in the realities and fictions that are presented in these express
ions of the moving image.